


Stone Face

by fujierfilm



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: First story, M/M, Mentioned SEVENTEEN Ensemble, Mentioned Stray Kids Ensemble, No Smut, no smiling, prince AU, prince x gardener
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 10:42:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16195919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fujierfilm/pseuds/fujierfilm
Summary: Prince Chenle, a calm and quiet prince, one problem though, he never smiles. Whoever can make him smile or laugh gets his hand in marriage. Many from across the lands have tried, from common folk to nobles, everyone has failed. Up steps a new contender, the gardener's son, though he knows nothing about the marriage part, he'll try his best to make the stone faced prince smile.





	1. Chapter 1

They all watched the prince as a noble from the neighboring country humiliated himself to make the prince even crack the tiniest smile; but he did not, sitting cross-legged in his seat, head resting on his hand balled into a fist, stone face unmoving, except to yawn, bored at the noble’s antics. The king shooed him out, the prince clearly not going to crack anytime soon. For three years they had been doing this, trying to get the prince to even just smirk. They’d turned it into a proposal, whoever could make him smile, got his hand in marriage. People from many different countries have tried, bringing their best jokes and skits, even the common people had joined in, trying to get the unamused prince to smile.

Chenle hopped down from his seat and made his way back to his chamber. His assistants, Mark and Jaemin followed him back. Mark and Jaemin exchanged looks, the silence crushing them like gravity.  
“You know Jaemin, I felt the noble was funny,” Mark spoke, trying to lighten the mood. Jaemin nodded in agreement.  
“Me too, his jokes were pretty original, compared to the others at least, what did you think your highness?” That was a mistake. The prince suddenly stopped in his tracks, making the assistants quickly follow suite. Chenle turned to look at them, he did not look happy, but then again, did he ever?

“I could see the look in his eyes, his heart wasn’t in it, his eyes were cold, dead, only in it for the power and wealth. I won’t smile for anyone like that, someone like that doesn’t deserve to rule a country.” Mark and Jaemin looked at the prince in shock, they knew he didn’t find most things funny, but the fact that he was paying attention to all of that, was just unbelievable.  
“Wow, we didn’t realize-” Chenle cut Jaemin off. He shook his head.  
“Of course you didn’t, you’re not supposed to rule this country,” the prince spoke solemnly, effectively keeping the assistant’s mouths shut. He looked out the window, his eyes catching the green of the trees, and grass, and the scattered colors of the flowers in the garden.  
“I’m going to the garden.” Chenle turned heel and jogged back down the staircase. Mark and Jaemin started to follow him.  
“Your highness would you-” Chenle cut them off again.  
“No, I’ll go by myself,” Chenle started back down the stairs before pausing and turning back to his assistants. “And please, don’t call me ‘your highness’, just call me by my name.”

 

Chenle walked around the garden, stopping ever so often to admire the flowers. He made a mental note to praise the gardener for his work, which he forgot almost immediately as his focus shifted to the clear pond. It was bordered with smooth, gray stones, and it’s surface was unmoving as the fish swam without a care and lotus flowers floated spreading their beauty across the water. It was serene and beautiful.

Well, until that boy fell.

It was a muffled thump accompanied with the water rippling. Chenle turned behind him to see a tall boy lying flat on his back, looking like he was in pain. The prince guessed had fallen from the tree, judging from the ladder laying in the same way him and the basket beside him. Chenle decided to be a good person and check on the boy.  
“Hey, you alright?” Chenle asked the tree boy. He leaned down to get a closer look at him. He had the face of a doll and looked mostly made of legs. The boy wore distressed denim overalls with a white t-shirt under. The fallen boy pried his eyes open and took a long look at Chenle.

“What?” He questioned looking side to side. Chenle rolled his eyes.  
“I asked if you were alright,” he repeated watching the boy sit up onto his elbows. The boy looked at him and blinked, seemingly remembering where he was.  
“Oh yeah, the ladder just tipped when I was trying to climb it.” He pointed at the ladder lying beside him. Chenle looked over his body, checking to see if anything was bent the wrong way, he guessed he hadn’t fallen from that far up but it never hurt to check.  
“That’s a weak ladder,” Chenle finally replied to the boy. He nodded in return and stood up, with Chenle following suite. He looked up at the tree he seemed to be climbing then back at Chenle and seemed to have an idea.  
“Hey, can you hold the ladder while I pick the peaches?” He requested. Chenle shrugged and nodded.

The boy climbed the ladder while the prince held it steady for him. Chenle felt bored watched the boy pick fruits, and his arms were starting to grow tired, but nonetheless, he held it steady for the boy. The boy seemed to grow weary of their silence, so he struck up a conversation.  
“Hey, what your name?” He asked, not looked away from a peach he was about to grab. Chenle looked up at the boy, he was trying.  
“Chenle,” he replied with a flat tone of voice. The boy in the tree paused but then put the peach in his basket where it joined the rest.  
“That sounds familiar, well my name’s Jisung.” He smiled down at Chenle, who didn’t return it. Jisung climbed back down to join Chenle on flat ground. He handed the prince a peach.

“Here for your troubles.” He insisted the prince take the peach. Chenle took it from his hand and mumbled a ‘thanks’. Jisung looked at his quizzically, Chenle stared back.  
“What?” Chenle asked, trying to figure out why the boy was studying him. Jisung just shook his head.  
“It’s just that, you haven’t smiled once since you found me,” Jisung pointed out. Chenle looked away from the boy and down at his peach.  
“I don’t smile at all,” he mumbled loud enough for the peach boy to hear. Jisung’s eyes widened at the prince’s statement. He put down his peach basketball and grabbed the prince’s cheeks. Chenle frowned at him.  
“What are you-”

“I will make you smile no matter what,” Jisung said in a tone that meant he wasn’t joking, even if you couldn’t hear his voice, you could see it in his eyes, he was determined to make Chenle smile, even if he’d only known him for a couple of minutes. Chenle removed his hands from his cheeks and looked away.  
“I doubt you can,” Chenle warned him. Jisung crossed his arms and looked at the older defiantly.  
“I will make you smile,” he repeated, the determination still there.

Someone came from another part of the garden holding a basket of strawberries, this one Chenle could recognize, the gardener. Jisung waved him over to where the two were standing.  
“Hey dad, this is-” before Jisung could even finish his sentence, his dad dropped to one knee as soon as he laid eyes on Chenle. Chenle rolled his eyes. Jisung looked back and forth from his dad to Chenle in confusion. The gardener looked at his son who was still trying to figure out why he was kneeling.  
“Kneel for a prince, boy,” his father snapped at him, jabbing a chin at Chenle. It took about five seconds for the realization to reach Jisung’s mind before he too, dropped to one knee. Chenle gestured for them to stand up and took a bite of the peach Jisung had given him, he nodded, it was pretty good.  
“Keep up the good work you two, and Jisung,” he paused as Jisung looked at him in disbelief “You’re allowed free reign in the castle to come find me, don’t go back on your promise.” And with that he left the garden, eating his peach reward.

 

“Renjun, when did you get here?” Chenle asked stepping into his bedroom only to find his cousin. It had been a year since they’d seen each other, but Renjun hadn’t given any notice that he’d be there that day.  
“Oh, about thirty minutes ago, but let me tell you.” Chenle slipped his shoes off and hopped onto the queen sized bed, he knew when Renjun started or ended a sentence like that, it would be some good tea.  
“So I was dating this noble boy-”

“Is it Hyunjin, Seungmin maybe, wait what about Changbin or Chan, or did you get back together with Hansol..” Chenle busied himself with trying to figure out who he was talking about. Renjun shook his head at all of them.  
“Those were all within the last two years, and they’re all wrong, plus I told you I only dated Hansol to get close to Chan,” Renjun shot all of Chenle’s guesses down. Chenle shrugged at Renjun and bit into the peach again.  
“I don’t know, but you’re a bit of a hoe Renjun,” Chenle pointed out before Renjun gave his cousin a playful shove in the shoulder.  
“I know I am, anyways his name was Felix, he was a bit possessive and clingy, so I decided to dump him. He did that whole _‘I can’t live without you’_ thing so I just said _’Then perish’_ and called the guards to come get him,” Renjun sounded proud of himself. Chenle had to admit, it was a pretty good comeback to that. Chenle just took another bite of his peach.  
“What if he really couldn't live without you?”

“What?”

“What if he really needed you to survive?” Renjun looked over at his cousin, his stone face remained, but they had been around each so long that he could tell when the younger was joking or not. Renjun shook his head at the prince’s joke and pointed at the fruit he was eating.  
“Where’d you get the peach from?” He asked, changing the subject.  
“The garden, a the gardener’s son gave it to me after I helped him,” Chenle recalled. Renjun nodded glancing out the window to the garden.  
“Really, he seems nice.” Chenle nodded staring at the fruit that was nearly gone, save for the stem and poles.  
“Yeah, he said that he promises to make me smile.” Renjun threw back his head in laughter, Chenle looked back at the duke’s son and shook his head.  
“Does this kid know what he’s doing? Even if he succeeds, does he even know about the marriage thing?” Chenle directed his attention back to his peach, he turned it around in his hand, looking over it.

“His name’s Jisung, and if he couldn’t recognize me by face or name, I doubt he knows about the marriage thing, but I took up his challenge, so I let him have free reign of the castle to come find me whenever he thinks I can laugh. He seemed pretty determined, but I’m not sure if he can do it.” Renjun lightly punched Chenle in the shoulder and gave a warm smile.  
“Hey, don’t give up hope, even if it’s not him who makes you laugh, someone in this world probably can.” Chenle nodded, partially hoping that he would succeed, and partially hoping he failed. Renjun seemed to go into his thoughts for a second.  
“Now that I think about it, I think I had an ex named Jisung..” Chenle shoved Renjun back onto his bed at that statement. Renjun laughed as his fell back, and pulled the prince back as well, because if he was going down, he’s taking you with him. 

They stayed like that for a while, nostalgia taking over them. They remembered the times they spent together when they were younger, before the whole marriage proposal, when Renjun would try to get Chenle to laugh just for the heck of it. Renjun played with the prince’s hair and smiled down at his cousin, he thought back at all the stupid one-liners and jokes he’d tried on the prince, and none worked. He didn’t know if this gardener boy could do it when he’d tried for years, but he sure wished him good luck.


	2. Chapter 2

Chenle pulled Mark and Jaemin down the quiet halls of the castle. Jaemin rubbed his eyes and Mark yawned and adjusted his glasses, not having enough time to put in his contacts. The sun had just come up, and yet Chenle had taken them from their comfortable beds to walk barefoot through the castle.  
“Where are we going your highness?” Jaemin drawled out, his eyes still not fully open from being asleep not even ten minutes ago. Chenle shushed him, telling his assistant to keep his voice down.  
“The library, I’ve got a favor to ask of you two,” Chenle replied, his voice barely above a whisper. Mark yawned once again.  
“Can’t you tell us here? And what could you possibly have to tell us at this ungodly hour?” Mark questioned, still allowing himself to be dragged by the small prince.  
“No, I also want to read, and according to you guys, someone has come to make me laugh so I can’t tell you later.” Chenle let go of the assistants’ hands and tugged on the library doors for them to open.

The library was magnificent as always. It’s shelves stocked full of books. The bookcases were so tall they nearly touched the high ceiling, Chenle never understood how the balance worked there. There were books from all over the world, translated into Chinese and Korean, and of all genres too. There was eighteenth century European history, sci-fi books from the late nineties, mystery books where the plot twisted so hard that if it were a road, it could cause a car accident, and more. Chenle loved it here, it was always quiet, and people rarely entered, unless it was the librarian, Jungwoo, or his apprentice, Jeno, who Jaemin seemed to try and flirt with, and was popular among nobles, namely Renjun. Chenle motioned for the assistants to sit on the soft, Victorian style couch.  
“So, I need you to pass something on to the head of the guards.” The prince lowered himself into an armchair across from Mark and Jaemin, the former of the two eyed Chenle with half lidded eyes and an eyebrow raised, Jaemin on the other hand looked like he was almost in dreamland again; Mark shook his shoulder a bit to prevent that.  
“Why can’t it wait until after the princess from Once comes to make you laugh?”

“Because I have no idea when he'll come looking for me,” Chenle replied calmly, but then realized what it sounded like he said. Mark sat up a bit.  
“He? Your highness, are you in danger?” Mark asked carefully, knowing Chenle wouldn’t give him a straight answer if he were. Jaemin groaned.  
“I haven’t even had my coffee yet and I have to deal with blackmailers?” Jaemin whined in a sleepy tone. Chenle took a deep sigh.  
“You mean your cup of death? And by he, I mean the gardener’s son, Jisung, I need you guys to tell the head that I’ve given him free reign of the castle to come and find me.” Mark looked at the prince like he was trying to process one of the bad jokes a noble had told.  
“Why? Did he threaten you?” Chenle rolled his eyes and stood up to look for a book to read.  
“No Mark, he just made a promise to me yesterday and I want to see if he can keep it.” Mark opened his mouth but closed it again and looked at Jaemin who was dozing off again.  
“Well your highness, can we rest here for a bit-” he elbowed Jaemin to make sure he was awake “-before we carry on the message?” Chenle nodded before grabbing a book off the shelf, ‘The Girl Who Drank the Moon’.

“I thought I heard someone!” Jeno poked his head around the bookshelf causing Chenle to jump and nearly drop his book. Jeno apologized quickly which Chenle pardoned. Jaemin smiled at Jeno as he made his way over to them, Chenle knew Jaemin had a thing for Jeno, he also knew his cousin had a thing for Jeno, but the boy himself was unfortunately dense as a rock.  
“You want some coffee Jaemin?” Jeno asked leaning over the couch, taking in Mark and Jaemin’s appearances. Jaemin nodded quickly.  
“You know how I like it,”

“You sure you don’t want any water?” Jeno confirmed, he knew how Jaemin wanted his coffee, an Americano with four shots of espresso, no milk, no water, no sugar. Chenle plopped back down in his seat.  
“Let Jaemin drink his cup of death,” he sarcastically remarked, flipping to the last page he’d read. Jeno shook his head and went to go make the ‘cup of death’ for the assistant. He turned to look at the other assistant.  
“Mark do you want anything?” Mark shook his head and Jeno disappeared to go make the coffee.   
“Oh, and Prince!” Jeno called from the other side of the bookshelf. Chenle looked up from still trying to find the page he was on. “You’ve already finished that book!” Chenle looked at the cover and sighed, another book he’d finished. Mark crossed his arms and sunk into his seat getting comfortable. Jeno swiftly returned with Jaemin’s coffee and another book for Chenle to read.  
“Here, it’s the Trials of Apollo, I think you’ll like it.” Jeno gave that beautiful smile as he handed it to Chenle. Jeno knew the prince wouldn’t smile back, but he could tell, just by the way he nodded back, he was grateful. 

Jaemin smiled as he drank his coffee, finally feeling awake. He stood up abruptly stood up and dragged Mark to his feet too, just as the boy was finally falling asleep. The latter looked angrily at Jaemin as he pulled him out the library, but hey, he was already awake, might as well let the head of guards know. They maneuvered through the halls of the large castle until they finally got to the front gates, where the head of guards was busy interrogating someone.  
“Johnny!” Jaemin called out to get the tall man’s attention, Johnny turned away from the boy being interrogated to smile at the assistants.  
“Hello boys, perfect timing! This boy says he has business with the prince.” Johnny turned back to the boy, who, though tall, seemed to shrink under the guard’s gaze. Mark rubbed his eyes and looked at the boy.  
“Business with the prince? Are you, by any chance, the gardener’s son?” He asked stepping closer to the young boy, he looked at Mark with a thankful smile and nodded.  
“Yeah, my name’s Jisung, I came to see the prince,” he explained himself. Johnny narrowed his eyes a bit at the young boy, while Jaemin smiled, the coffee working it’s magic.  
“That’s what we came to tell you! His highness gave this boy free reign through the castle!” Johnny looked surprised at the sudden notion as his eyes looked back and forth from the assistant to Jisung. Mark grabbed the boys hand and tugged.  
“If you’re looking for the prince now, we can take you to him,” Mark told him gesturing into the castle. Jisung smiled and nodded as Mark pulled him away from the head guard as Jaemin waved goodbye to Johnny.

Mark pulled him out of earshot of Johnny and lead him behind a pillar. He pushed his back against the marble and held him there.  
“I want you to tell me truthfully, are you blackmailing our prince?” Mark commanded in his best serious voice. Apparently it worked since Jisung seemed frightened.  
“He told me to keep a promise,” he quietly replied. Jaemin rolled his eyes at Mark being apprehensive, he couldn’t blame him though. Chenle was the only heir, having him in trouble wouldn’t be good.  
“What was your promise?” 

“To make him smile.” That statement was followed with awkward silence. Mark let go of the boy and snorted.  
“You want, to make his highness smile?” Mark cracked up before Jaemin flicked the side of his head.  
“How’d you make that promise with him?” He asked before taking another sip of his previously forgotten coffee. Jisung finally relaxed.  
“He found me in the garden when I fell off the ladder. Chenle - I’m sorry, his highness held it up for me so I gave him a peach. He hadn’t smiled so I asked him about it and he said he doesn’t smile so I promised I’d make him smile. It’s that simple.” Jisung shrugged at the end, seemingly unbothered despite being frightened just a minute ago. Jaemin shook his head but waved for him to follow. Jisung nodded, though his head kept turning back to Mark, he’d scarred the poor boy.

They pushed open the doors to the library to find the prince looking exasperated with Renjun ready to wring the former’s neck. Mark and Jaemin dropped to one knee leaving Jisung clueless once again. Chenle noticed and motioned for Renjun to let them stand up. The prince put his book down and walked over to Jisung, nodding shallowly and gestured over to his cousin.  
“Jisung, this is my cousin, the duke’s son, Lord Renjun.” Jisung bowed deeply after receiving this news and Renjun chuckled at his cluelessness.  
“You can stand,” Renjun had an ounce of playfulness in his voice. Jisung nodded and stood up straight as the two assistants rose to their feet as well. Chenle clapped Jisung on the shoulder.  
“You seem to know nothing of royals and nobles.” The prince shook his head. Jisung huffed and avoided eye contact. Renjun walked up close and looked up at the gardener boy.  
“You’re pretty tall boy,”

“You’re just short Renjun,” Chenle retorted and rolled his eyes. Renjun whipped around to the younger.  
“You’re not much taller than me, Jisung’s still taller than you,” Renjun retorted.  
“But not as short as you, so Jisung-” Chenle turned back to the gardener before Renjun could make another statement.”-you came, to make me smile I suppose?” Chenle asked as he crossed his arms. Jisung nodded quickly and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his bag, Chenle found this action cute but he didn’t show it on his face.  
“Okay, so, what’s it called when you put your picture in a locket?” Jisung looked expectantly at Chenle. Truth be told, the prince had probably heard this joke a million times before when people were trying to find something no one has heard before, but he decided to let the gardener tell his joke.  
“I don’t know, what is it called?”

“Independent!” Jisung looked so proud of himself that Chenle couldn’t tell him that he knew it from the beginning.  
“Good joke, not enough though,” Chenle commentated. Mark was ready to tell the youngest that they’d _all_ heard the joke before but Renjun flicked him in the head to shut the assistant up. Jisung fumbled to grab something else out his pocket.  
“Don’t worry I have another.” He pulled another paper from his bag.  
“This is my only other joke, can February march?” Another common one.  
“Can it?” Chenle asked, playing along once again.  
“No, but April may.” Once again, Chenle knew the answer before he said it, but he had to give the kid credit for trying.  
“Nice try kid.” Chenle clapped him on the shoulder. Jisung gave the prince a lopsided smile.  
“There was an attempt, but I’ll come back tomorrow, with new jokes!” Chenle looked at him with surprise, he thought he would give up like anyone else did, but he saw the same determination in his eyes from yesterday, and figured, this boy was going to be here for the long run.  
“I look forward to it.” Jisung flashed Chenle a smile and two thumbs up before heading to the door before stopping and rummaging through his bag again. He ran back over to Chenle with some fruit in his hand.  
“It’s an apple, you said you liked the peaches, you should try the apples. That is unless you’re allergic, then I have a peach too.” Chenle was surprised once again as he took the apple  
“Can I have the peach too?” He asked the gardener pointing at the bag, Jisung nodded with a smile and pulled the peach out for the prince. He turned to leave once again but turned back sheepishly.  
“Can someone help me to the exit?” He asked a bit embarrassed. Mark chuckled at Jisung and Jaemin volunteered to show him out. 

Once they left, Renjun reached for the peach.  
“Can I have it?” Chenle pulled the fruit away immediately and frowned at his cousin.  
“No, it’s mine.” Renjun clicked his tongue with a smile.  
“Possessive already.” Chenle rolled his eyes as he tried the apple. Juicy and sweet, just the way he liked them, he really had to tell his father how much he liked these fruits.


End file.
